


Lifeblood Hunter

by phoenixyfriend



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, F/M, Inconsistent Worldbuilding, M/M, Mythology References, The Uzumaki are all gods, Uzumaki Clan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28233135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixyfriend/pseuds/phoenixyfriend
Summary: In which the Uzumaki are all fox gods, and Sasuke needs help finding his brother.--All the titles mean something, and usually they meanmorethan one thing. The Queen Lawmaker is more than just a ruler; she is order and control and bureaucracy. The Warlady Healer is the embodiment of contradiction, breaking and fixing in the same moment. The Mother Trickster is creation, and nurture, andfun, apparently, the seeming dangers where no one ever truly gets hurt. The Death Unmaker is…Two-faced, Sasuke’s found, quite literally. Seven-faced, if one includes the heralds. Naruto gossiped like an old hen about it. He told Sasuke about how people claimed Nagato was a god of truth, but that it wasn’t quite accurate. ‘He’s not truth, really, he’sreality,the reality of war, and how people accept or reject it.’
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Uchiha Sasuke, Hoozuki Suigetsu/Uchiha Sasuke, Juugo & Uchiha Sasuke, Karin/Uchiha Sasuke, and various others - Relationship
Comments: 7
Kudos: 59





	Lifeblood Hunter

**Author's Note:**

> WARNINGS: references to canon-typical violence, references to canon-typical medical experimentation, references to off-screen sexual activity
> 
> Do not expect consistent worldbuilding or for characters to know each other in the right order. Everyone is at least twenty-seven.
> 
> Some of the worldbuilding does draw from irl Japanese mythology in regards to kitsune stuff, which amounts to "more tails, more power, caps out at nine." I didn't tag it because I really didn't utilize anything else and I don't want people to get their hopes up.

He follows the rumors, treks through forest and valley and desert alike, crosses the ocean and comes to the island so few reach. Most don’t bother to look for it. Of those who do, fewer still survive the journey.

The woman who steered the boat takes his money with a strange look in her eyes. They are orange, now that he is standing, and shrewd.

“Take care,” she says. “Not all the gods are kind.”

He knows this. He says nothing.

The woman watches him disembark, and he wonders, not for the first time, how she came to such a role.

“Which is your patron?” he asks. He’s not sure if it’s polite, but he thinks it’s even worse to exchange no words at all.

She tilts her head, and blinks. A thin lock of blue hair falls in front of her face, and she does not brush it away. Her edges blur strangely.

“Nagato,” she says, and then she comes apart in front of his eyes, sheets of paper that float away on the wind and into the fog that lays so heavy in the morning light. The boat collapses at his feet. He is stranded.

He knows the name of her patron. He knows what that one is.

He knows better than to seek the god out.

Sasuke turns towards the center of the island of gods, and marches.

\--

He avoids the god of the metal ruins, high upon his twisted throne; Nagato is a god of pain and war, famine and pestilence alike, a god of _truth_ above all. The stories are enough, and the title of Death Unmaker is _too much_ for Sasuke to even think of going there.

He avoids the Queen Lawmaker, second in power only to the Kyuubi in this not-place. Avoids the Warlady Healer, his teacher’s warnings heavy on his mind. Avoids the Mother Trickster, having heard of her rage and love and knowing, _knowing,_ that Sasuke’s own mother had once been in service to her. She might have even been a friend.

(He avoids the man-turned-deity that is Kushina’s chosen consort, for all that he feels the eyes watch him, sees the streaks of yellow in shadows too deep to hide.)

Sasuke cannot avoid all the gods, cannot avoid the _Peacemaker Sun,_ and he’s not sure if he regrets it. Blonde, with ears and three tails to match, the adolescent god is something that might be _Sasuke’s_ friend, as Kushina was Mikoto’s. There are adventures, to be sure, fighting monsters out of fairy tales and not-quite-avoiding the Kyuubi itself. Still, Sasuke’s got the Sun’s word on his side by the end, and it’s enough to keep him safe from Kurama. The gods are many things, but all of them… all those who _began_ as gods, at least, are of the foxes.

The Kyuubi is why, and even the Sun is one of his.

“You’re looking for the _Lifeblood Hunter_ , aren’t you?”

He hasn’t said it, but Sasuke doesn’t think he’s enough to hide such information from a god. He nods, and the Sun— _Naruto—_ looks at him with something that might be worry.

“She doesn’t like visitors, y’know,” Naruto says. “So you should probably bring her something cool.”

“Research materials,” Sasuke says, because that is what Orochimaru told him.

Naruto shrugs. “If they’re cool and new, yeah.”

Sasuke thinks he has such a thing, but he’s not sure it’s going to be enough. It has to be. “I came prepared.”

Naruto tilts his head and squints, and Sasuke thinks he almost looks human. “You sure?”

Not in the slightest. “I am.”

Naruto tilts his head the other way, and Sasuke tries not to flinch.

Then there’s a smile, bright as the sun. “Let me draw you a map!”

\--

The cave is nestled in the mountains, with carved stone steps leading the way once he finds the marker. There are spirits that flit about, mostly foxes and their ilk, but there’s something dark at the back of his mind that he pushes down until he can’t feel it. His run-in with the Baku-master still hasn’t quite faded, and the memory brings bile to…

No.

He pushes it down.

He climbs on up.

He ignores the feeling of eyes following his every move. There is no use in acknowledging them, only danger. He knows better, he _does._ There are gods who play at being safe and approachable, and gods who do _not._ Had he gone to Mito’s courts or Tsunade’s forest, or followed Naruto to Kushina’s den, he’d have had leeway. But here, his path leads him to god that values privacy and distance as much as Nagato does. As much as Pein.

“You’re not wanted.”

He stills.

Sasuke turns to see… nothing. A pale haze in the air that looks vaguely humanoid, at best.

“I come with a request,” he says, “and offerings.”

“Snake. Hawk. Bird. You _reek_ of all, yet you come to the foxes.”

Sasuke ducks his head and waits.

There is only silence, and when he looks up again, the haze is gone. In its place, a row of lights lead up a set of stairs he hadn’t noticed, hadn’t _seen,_ a minute earlier. He consults the map and… it does seem correct. Maybe. Naruto’s handwriting isn’t great.

He climbs.

\--

_Lifeblood Hunter._

All the titles mean something, and usually they mean _more_ than one thing. The Queen Lawmaker is more than just a ruler; she is order and control and bureaucracy. The Warlady Healer is the embodiment of contradiction, breaking and fixing in the same moment. The Mother Trickster is creation, and nurture, and _fun_ , apparently, the seeming dangers where no one ever truly gets hurt. The Death Unmaker is…

Two-faced, Sasuke’s found, quite literally. Seven-faced, if one includes the heralds. Naruto gossiped like an old hen about it. He told Sasuke about how people claimed Nagato was a god of truth, but that it wasn’t quite accurate. ‘He’s not truth, really, he’s _reality,_ the reality of war, and how people accept or reject it.’

Rumors abound about Naruto and Nagato being parallel aspects, in some ways. Sasuke still doesn’t quite understand. Toads were involved, apparently.

He reaches the cave, and hesitates.

“A little late to turn back.”

She stands before the entrance, arms crossed and tails waving. She has two, one less than Naruto; she’s definitely a _young_ god. Red hair, like most of the others. Glasses. Fashion a step to the side of what one might expect of a human the same seeming-age.

“I come to beg a favor,” Sasuke says, dropping his face to somewhere at her feet. “I bring… research material.”

 _Lifeblood Hunter:_ she who _is_ animus, she who searches for all knowledge, she who finds anything she needs.

“If you’re expecting me to regrow that arm, you’ve come to the wrong god.”

“No. I need… there’s a man I need to find. I’ve searched ten years for him and still can’t… it was easier to reach a god than it has been to find him.”

There’s a twitch of tails, in the corner of his vision, and she turns. “Come inside.”

He follows.

The cave is not a homey space. There are doors that lead elsewhere, which he assumes maybe have the living spaces, or the… experiments.

“Sit.”

He does.

She pours tea, quiet and controlled, and Sasuke remains stiff. The low table is traditional, but the floor is layered in a thick futon and dozens of pillows. The god lounges among them, bit it all still seems so… clinical.

It’s comforting in its familiarity, as far as interior design goes.

“What is your name?”

“Uchiha Sasuke.”

She nods. “You refuse to meet my eyes.”

“My mo…” his breath hitches, and he tries again, “my mother, she said that for my family to look a god in the eye without permission was a grave insult.”

“You have the devil’s eyes.”

“I do.”

“Let me see.”

He keeps his gaze on her shoulder, and lets his eyes spin to life.

A breath. Two. He waits.

“Pretty thing, aren’t you?” she muses. “Alright. Let’s hear it.”

“Hm?”

“Tell me what you need, and what you are willing to pay for it.”

A chance.

Sasuke turns to his bag, pulls out a box that’s padded as much as he’d been capable off, and places it on the table.

“A trade,” she muses, pulling it to herself and opening it to view the vials within. “Snake venom?”

“Rare species, mostly,” he says. “From more distant parts of the continent.”

She lifts a vial, holds it up to light and twists it about. “You’ve worked with Orochimaru, haven’t you?”

“Studied under their tutelage,” Sasuke corrects. “But… yes. That is how I learned of the ways to reach this place.”

She meets his eyes and smiles. “I shouldn’t be surprised; Orochimaru taught me as well, when I yet had just the one tail.”

He doesn’t ask how or when or why. He won’t waste what goodwill he’s earned on questions that don’t matter.

“I recognize about half of these,” she says. “And of those, I’ve only had a chance to study about a third. The gift is appreciated, little devil-blood. Tell me what you’re looking for.”

So he does.

The bare bones are as such:

When Sasuke was a child, his brother killed their family. Sasuke has been searching for him since. For revenge, for justice, for answers, he needs to know. He cannot find Itachi.

The god across the table tilts her head, brow furrowed. “Why did he kill?”

“I do not know.”

“Are there no others with your eyes left?”

Sasuke grimaces. “A half-mad cousin and a many-greats-uncle that appears to have found some form of immortality. They are as likely to have driven Itachi insane as not.”

“The uncle… Madara, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Great-grandmother has spoken of him,” she muses. “He was friends with the consort she took, once.”

He knows.

This is _why_ he avoided the court and its eight-tailed queen. Mito had taken a husband, and then brought his family into the fold. The Senju are all god-touched these days, and the ones who live on the island, the consort, the brother, the closest cousins… all are beyond mortality. Sasuke could have gone there, could have begged a favor of Senju Tobirama, but the idea horrifies him far more than the thought of asking the Hunter. For all that Tobirama is touted as the greatest of Mito’s enforcers of order, the bad blood between clans runs deep, and Sasuke would rather deal with the detached, clinical risk of the woman in front of him.

If she follows in their shared teacher’s footsteps, then he may end up tied to a table and opened up with sterile blades, but at least it’ll be his own fault.

The god stands abruptly, flowing to her feet in a way that doesn’t make physical sense, and gestures for him to follow.

He does.

They bypass the modern technology, and end up at a wide stone bowl filled with too-clear water. Seals litter the surface, carved and painted both, and Sasuke doesn’t try to untangle them. He was never suited to the art, and to even try to understand a god’s work without their hand as guide is foolish. That way lies madness.

He’s seen it happen.

Sasuke lets her draw some blood from the back of his arm, watches as she takes things from shelves and mutters in languages older than cities over the stone bowl. She is young, for a god, but ancient to a person.

He smells powdered bone and witch hazel long since burnt to ash. She sprinkles it on the now tainted water, and—

“Avert your eyes. Your devil-blood may let you see as I do, but the sight will be… painful.”

He does.

It itches under his skin, to follow every order, to listen to someone he barely knows, but _he_ came to _her._ He is here on _her terms,_ and Sasuke is many things, and ‘stupid’ may occasionally be among them, but he’s not _that_ stupid.

Usually.

“You said you’ve spent the past ten years searching for your brother, and that beyond him, the remaining relatives are a half-mad cousin and Madara…” the god muses. “So the question is… who is he working for?”

She starts talking in old, dead languages before Sasuke can answer. The question was not for him.

The sun sets, and still he stands with his back to the scrying pool.

“Mm, you’re not going to like this.”

Well, fuck.

She presses a hand lightly to his shoulder, jolts him into movement, and leads him back to the low table. “A moment.”

She lights candles, for all that Sasuke can see she has more modern lighting strewn about. She gives him more tea, and a plate of senbei. She sits across from him again, straight and professional.

He hesitates, but… he has already paid, and the gods of Uzushio do not patter about tricksy contracts of gifted food in the way of some of the northern spirits.

He takes a cracker.

“I know where your brother is,” she says, and it’s what he expected. He does not choke. “Unfortunately, I found… much else.”

“Would it do me well to know?”

“Yes,” she says. “But it’s going to anger you as well.”

Sasuke nods.

It takes a few moments, and then she… droops. “Fuck it, I can’t keep this up.”

What.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have the skill and the poise and godly power and all that,” she says, waving a hand at him. “I _am_ an Uzumaki. But this whole ‘dramatic speech’ nonsense and ‘refined vocabulary’ and—listen, I can’t do this for _another_ whole conversation without wanting to go outside and scream in a bucket.”

What.

“If I could _feel_ your emotions, I’d actually believe you were unaffected by that,” she mutters. “Okay, listen, Uchiha. Your family? A mess. A goddamn, motherfucking mess.”

“What.”

She rolls her eyes. “Do you want me to start with the world-impacting stuff that matters less to you personally, or start with the smaller stuff that is going to hit _you_ more?”

He tries to gather his thoughts. Only Naruto’s thrown him off this much, so far. “The personal.”

She nods. “Your brother is dying.”

“The fuck?”

The swear earns him a small huff of laughter, but the dash of a smirk is gone almost immediately. “There are people who could save his life; you’ve even met some that could. But the thing is, I’m pretty sure he _wants_ to die, and at your hand.”

Sasuke breathes, slow and even, for all that his heart is rabbiting away from him. “Why.”

She looks down, eyes on the table. Her mouth twists into a frown. “He was… possessed or controlled, the means were unclear. But he wasn’t in control, when he killed your family.”

Sasuke closes his eyes. His hand tighten around his tea, and he only barely stops himself from shattering it. He opens his eyes to meet hers.

“Who.”

“You’ve fought him, once,” she says, voice low. “Shimura Danzō.”

Right. The Baku-master. This time he’s _really_ going to kill the old bastard.

“And the half-mad cousin you mentioned…” She grimaces and shakes her head. “He was involved in the murders, and now he’s part of the, like, metaphorical cage around your brother. There is a guard—a _friend_ to your brother, at this point, and a lover to Obito—who’s probably going to do his best to keep your brother alive if you go for a mercy kill.”

“I’m not going to kill my brother.”

“I’m gonna be real with you, he’s in a _lot_ of pain,” she says. “And he wants you to. Has been for almost twenty years, apparently.”

“I’m not going to kill him,” Sasuke says, getting to his feet, mind already racing. “I’m going to kill Danzō.”

“No, you’re not,” she says. “Sit down.”

“You can’t—”

“You are _in a god’s territory,”_ she snarls. “You do _not_ tell me what I can or cannot do, _devil-blood.”_

Sasuke sits.

His heart is running away without him, but he sits.

She glares at him, tails lashing. “You came for information. Here’s a good piece: if you go after Danzō as you are, especially alone, you _will_ die.”

“I’m not going to drag anyone else into this,” Sasuke says. “It’s my problem.”

“Yeah, no, I can tell you right off the bat that my cousin would _volunteer_ to help you out,” she tells him. “Seriously, just _mention_ it to Naruto and he’ll already be at the door and wondering why you’re not leaving yet.”

“Shimura is a _god-killer,”_ Sasuke protests. “His entire skillset revolves around taking down people like Naruto.”

“And you think you can take him alone?”

“I’ve escaped once already, and I’ve had time to improve since then.”

She sets her cup down with a solid _thunk_ against the wood of the table. “Uchiha Sasuke, if you go after Shimura alone, there is an 83.7% chance you will die. I ran. The fucking. Numbers. That’s why you _came here.”_

It is.

“So who do you suggest?” he asks.

She looks him up and down, pursing her lips. “Your old comrades, the river spirit and the berserker.”

Suigetsu and Juugo. Sensible picks.

“My cousin, obviously. You apparently know _Hatake,_ so I’m still more confused about why you couldn’t just _ask him_ for help finding your brother, but whatever. Swing by Shikkotsu forest on your way out; an old friend of yours is there, and Hatake is visiting her and the Flying Thunder for the fortnight.”

Kakashi knows Naruto’s formerly-human father. Of course he does.

“And _before you leave the island,”_ she says, leaning forward. “You go to Pein, and you tell him what you’re doing. Do not ask to borrow a warrior. Do not ask for his help. You go there, you tell him, and you accept whatever aid he offers, but you do not _ask for it.”_

“…why?”

“Because Shimura Danzō is known as a godkiller for a reason,” Karin tells him. “And you don’t fuck with Pein’s chosen few.”

\--

She’s right about all of it.

Sasuke knows this, as pieces fall into place, or out of it. People agree, one by one, and Pein sends the blue-haired woman with them. There was a third, once, and Konan tells him of Yahiko’s death on their way to the shore. Yahiko wasn’t quite a born god like the Uzumaki, but he and Konan had ascended at Nagato’s will, centuries ago. Even if they hadn’t, Danzō had killed far more.

Sakura mostly sticks close to Kakashi and Naruto, throwing concerned looks at Sasuke when she thinks he won’t see. Naruto chatters endlessly at all of them, sucking up attention, and Sasuke already feels like he’s known the god of the sun all his life.

Kakashi drifts apart from them sometimes, speaking quietly to the empty air low at his side. Sasuke’s allows his Sharingan to surface just long enough to confirm that it’s still Rin that haunts him, and then ignores it. The Hatake blood has always lent itself to ghost-whispers and spirit-takers. Sasuke’s already seen the evidence of just how strongly it runs in his former teacher. He doesn’t need to watch the man’s ties to the living grow even weaker than they already are.

The little red fox that chooses to wrap around Sasuke’s neck like a stole is not commented on. He hasn’t asked if it’s her, or just a watcher she’s sent, but he can guess. When she chooses to hop down and walk, enough people change their orientation to follow her movements that whoever she is, she knows best how to get where they’re going.

Lifeblood Hunter: she who tracks down anything, whether man or beast or knowledge.

Sasuke had not known, before, just what that last one entailed.

Now, he does, and he knows to fear it. So few secrets can be kept from a god whose domain holds hunting all the hidden things.

“They’re following us, you know.”

Sasuke sleeps alone, or at least intends to. He has a solo tent, the same one he’s been using since his last one caught fire three years ago. There’s enough room for him to sleep, and occasionally to bring a summons with him.

The speaker is not a summons.

Sasuke sits up, eyeing the little fox. “I’d wondered if it was you.”

She smirks, and in a burst of foxfire, is once again almost-human. She’s clothed, at least. “Alas, it is.”

Sasuke sighs and scoots back to give her some space. “Right. So, who’s following us?”

“Senju brothers,” she says, somehow twisting her body to seem like she’s lounging in an imperial palace instead of half a wanderer’s tent. “Not for long, I expect.”

Sasuke grimaces. “I was hoping to avoid them.”

Karin shrugs. “They’re not here for you, or your brother. Not even the cousin. One has issue with Danzō, granted, but they trust this little team to take care of it.”

“So?” Sasuke prompts.

“They’re going after Madara,” she says. “There is… a complication, shall we say.”

“I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.”

“Mm,” she hums, turning her head enough to pull a crack from her neck. “I picked up far more information on this whole _situation_ than just what’s immediately relevant to you. I just had to… pull the right thread.”

“Hn.”

She laughs in his face. “What, disappointed it’s not all about you, pretty thing?”

“Only because I was planning on sleeping,” he argues.

A smile curls its way across her face, and she leans forwards, putting enough weight on her hands that he half expects her to crawl over him. “I think you’re _lying_ to me.”

He doesn’t tell her she’s wrong. It’s enough that the smile widens, and her tails flick through the air behind her.

“You know,” she says, sinking lower and looking at him over her glasses, “it really is lucky that you came to me. With all the trouble I’m causing with the info I dug out of the ether? I’m close to another tail already. This might just push me past the edge to the third.”

“Causing trouble means more tails?”

“It does for me,” she says. The ears twitch. “Auntie Kushina would be proud, I’m sure.”

“Hn,” he grunts. “Is there anything else I should know?”

Her smile drops, and she huffs in irritation, sitting up straight again. “I need to dip out to talk to your Hatake friend about Obito.”

“…okay,” Sasuke says. “I think he’s a few tents over. There’s probably a dog in front of it.”

“Thanks,” she says, voice so dry that Sasuke isn’t sure what to make of it. He waits until she’s gone, tent flap still, and then lies back down. He can’t quite fall asleep, not when he feels that aura of the undead come drifting over the ground from Kakashi’s tent. It’s not anything actually harmful—he knows that much from experience—but when a Hatake loses control, the gates to the afterlife aren’t exactly locked anymore. The chill of death drifts out, and there’s no way to pull it back in.

When a small red fox noses its way past the tent flaps and curls up in a ball on Sasuke’s pillow, he welcomes the warmth.

\--

Karin spends most of the next day on Naruto’s shoulders, nipping at his ears whenever he’s too loud or annoying, which is often. He seems to be completely unaware of any irritation on her part until she hops off—which almost makes him _cry_ , apparently—and comes to Sasuke.

She then _screams_ at him until he picks her up.

“Got an admirer, huh?” Sakura teases. Sasuke stares at her until her smile drops.

“He doesn’t know,” Konan tells Sakura.

“What do I not know?” Sasuke demands.

“Screaming is how foxes show affection,” Kakashi says. There’s an incredibly irritating smile on his face that Sasuke kind of wants to stab off.

Instead, Sasuke looks down at Karin.

He’s not sure if foxes can smirk, or if ‘smug’ is an expression in their repertoires, but he’s pretty sure he’s seeing it here.

“Whatever.” He slings her across his shoulders. “We’re almost at the river.”

Sasuke doesn’t think he’s ever been on the receiving edge of as many judgmental stares as he gets in the moment that Suigetsu references that one time they fell into bed together. Explicitly. Even Naruto seems to be the bad kind of surprised. Kakashi’s just pitying him, but in a way that’s pretty clearly meant to be mocking.

(Sasuke _knows_ he has bad taste.)

(He’d appreciate it if people stopped commenting on it.)

\--

“So what is it that did it for you?”

Sasuke doesn’t have to look up to know that his tent is once again playing host to a young god.

“Hm?”

“What is it about the river spirit that got you in bed with him?” Karin asks, head tilted and looking to the side like the answer doesn’t actually interest her that much.

Sasuke shrugs. “He offered, and I had minimal experience. I was… eighteen? Nineteen? It was an experiment.”

“One you’ve repeated since then?”

Kind of? “On occasion. It’s not something I spend much time on.”

“So no interest in women, then.”

“I don’t… have preferences?” Sasuke tries. “I just don’t do this sort of thing much.”

She pouts. “Figures. Go to sleep, little devil-blood; you’re not expected to take watch tonight.”

Karin leaps forward, form shifting like water until she’s back to being a fox no longer than his arm. She slips under the covers, nestling up against his side, and rests her jaw on his shoulder.

“You could probably stay in Naruto’s tent, if you wanted,” he points out.

She lifts her head and blinks at him. “Do you _want_ me to?”

“I don’t particularly care,” he says. “But you barely know me.”

“I know enough,” she says. “And far be it for me to deny myself the chance to rest near such a pretty human as yourself. If you tell me to leave, I will, but I’d much rather stay here.”

Uh… huh.

Whatever. Not his problem.

\--

Sasuke has to do another round of ‘ignore the judgmental staring’ the next day. At first, it’s because Suigetsu wanders off to take a leak, and makes a crass comment about it.

Then, it’s because Suigetsu bursts back into the group, screaming his damn lungs out.

_“Fuck fuck fuck, SASUKE! I FOUND HIM BUT HE’S LOST THE GODDAMN PLOT AGAIN!”_

Sasuke sighs, because he knows what’s coming. The roaring isn’t exactly subtle.

“Dude,” Naruto whispers. “What the fuck.”

Juugo takes out at least eight trees in his pursuit of Suigetsu, and that’s just the five seconds of the rampage that Sasuke can _see._

“What did you do to set him off?”

“I didn’t do _jackshit!”_ Suigetsu yells back. He ducks behind Sasuke as Juugo whips around to face the group and roars.

Sasuke walks forward, letting his eyes whirl to life, and meets Juugo’s gaze. It takes a few seconds, as Juugo barrels towards them, but the calming works. The large man stumbles, losing color and form until he falls to his knees in front of Sasuke. He looks up, eyes glazed, until he catches on to who’s in front of him.

“Sasuke-sama…”

Sasuke quirks half a smile, and reaches out to run his hand down the side of Juugo’s face. “I’m here.”

“Did I hurt anyone?”

“Just Suigetsu’s pride,” Sasuke says, and doesn’t acknowledge the squawk of affront from behind him. He takes Juugo’s chin in his hand and tilts his head up. “I’ve a battle in mind. Come with me?”

“Of course,” Juugo breathes out, leaning into Sasuke’s palm. “Whatever you need of me.”

“I’ll stay longer,” Sasuke promises. He’d hoped Juugo had the control to live a calm life, but he doesn’t think that even Suigetsu’s irritating enough to drag out this kind of rampage from a man who _actually_ has his life together. “It seems you need me.”

“I’m sorr—”

“Don’t be,” Sasuke cuts him off, stepping back. “Stand. Do you need a shirt?”

Juugo looks down at the tatters of what he’d worn before, and shakes his head. “It’s warm enough that I can do without.”

“Alright,” Sasuke says. He’s not sure where to go from here. “It’s good to have you at my side again.”

“Of course, Sasuke-sama.”

When Sasuke turns around, it’s to staring. Maybe it’s about the whole ragemonster thing?

Naruto and Sakura are both staring with wide eyes, hands to their mouths in something that is _probably_ confusion. Kakashi is even facepalming.

“What?” he asks, when nobody explains.

“Dude,” Naruto whispers, disbelief in every syllable. “What was that?”

Sasuke blinks. He turns to Suigetsu.

“They think you slept with Juugo too,” Suigetsu explains. Unlike the glee he might have shown in… basically any other iteration of this situation, really, he seems uncomfortable.

“Absolutely not,” Sasuke says immediately.

“Are you su—”

 _“Yes,_ I’m sure,” Sasuke snaps. “That’s not—no. It would be like—like—”

“Kabuto,” Suigetsu suggests. “Except you’d _be_ the Kabuto in this… uh.”

“Metaphor,” Juugo offers.

“Yeah, that!”

Sasuke closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I am not and never will be sleeping with Juugo. That would be… bad.”

“Power dynamics~!” Suigetsu croons, and Sasuke feels no shame in smacking the back of his head hard enough to splatter him over the forest floor.

He’ll be fine.

\--

“So that’s a thing you worry about, then?”

Sasuke looks up from where he’s sewing up a split side seam in his pants. “What?”

“Power dynamics,” Karin clarifies, crossing her legs and dropping forward until she can rest her chin on her hands. “That’s a thing you worry about?”

“I… suppose?” Sasuke says. “Juugo and I have known each other for a long time. It’s not romantic or sexual. It never has been.”

“Pure loyalty, then.” She tilts her head, and her ears flick. “Many would abuse that kind of devotion.”

“I won’t do that,” Sasuke says. “Not to Juugo. He signed on to help me achieve my goals and to help me fight battles. That was the deal.”

“You’re a fan of contracts, then.”

He shrugs. He’s not great at that sort of thing, but it’s nice to have expectations in writing.

“Did you ever date a girl?” Karin asks, and Sasuke can see the waving of her tails in his peripheral vision, but the details are lost. “You and Sakura seem to have history.”

“You didn’t catch what kind in your visions?”

“Not visions. Scrying. There’s a difference.” She pauses before continuing. Sasuke ties off the repair, and tests it. It’s ugly, but it’ll hold. “And no, I didn’t get much beyond you having worked together before, and her being skilled _and_ friendly enough to… well, to be both capable _and_ willing to help against Shimura.”

She waits, looking at him over her glasses.

“She liked me when I was younger,” Sasuke finally says. “I don’t know why. I was an asshole.”

“Were you, now?”

“Yes,” he says, because he has the benefit of hindsight. “She could have done better.”

“Like?”

Sasuke shrugs. He thinks he’s been doing that a lot. “There’s a Nara she got along with alright, and a Yamanaka.”

“You’d matchmake her with a _mind-hopper?”_ Karin asks, a fascinated horror writ across her face. “With a _shadowspinner?!”_

“With Ino? Yeah, they’ve known each other since they were five,” Sasuke says. “And Shikamaru’s too lazy to hurt anyone he marries, even accidentally.”

“That isn’t particularly reassuring.”

“She has the Warlady Healer’s favor?” Sasuke says, thought it’s more of a question than not. “That’s a pretty solid ‘if you hurt her, you die’ thing, even without the rest of her powers and allies.”

Karin shakes her head. “I’ll take your word for it. Still doesn’t answer my question, though.”

“What question?”

“Did you ever date a girl?” Karin prompts. “Or have you only ever chosen to bed men?”

“Why does it _matter?”_ Sasuke asks.

She eyes him for a long moment, and then says, “I can’t tell if you’re _playing_ dumb because you think it’ll offend me if you don’t, or if you’re actually not picking up what I’m putting down.”

“I legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that,” she says. She sighs and shakes her head. “Never mind. I’ll just… go hang out with Naruto tonight. If you legit don’t know what’s going on, then it’s weird for me to—what the fuck.”

Sasuke looks down at his hand, which has indeed grabbed one of her tails, seemingly without Sasuke’s own permission. He releases it like it’s burning his hand, and the tail whips away.

“Dude.”

“Don’t go,” he says. “Explain.”

She quirks a brow.

Through grit teeth, he manages. “Please.”

“You sure?” she asks. “It could make things awkward.”

“Just tell me.”

“I’m very attracted to you, and have been flirting when I can,” Karin says. “I don’t want to force you into anything, which… given that I’m a god, I can imagine you might be reticent to refuse my advances if I happen to make them particularly blatant, out of… well, fear.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

“Oh, you should be,” she dismisses. “Just, you know, for other reasons. I’m not going to get pissy if you reject me, but I also wanted to be subtle about it.”

“About… being attracted to me,” Sasuke clarifies. “And… wanting something to come of it?”

She looks him up and down, slow and assessing, and then… “Yeah. I was kinda hoping.”

He doesn’t know where to take that.

“I… _have_ been attracted to women in the past,” he says. “But I’ve rarely been what people consider _normal,_ as far as sex things go.”

Karin nods. “And that’s why I’m going to spend the night in my cousin’s tent, instead of making things awkward by staying here.”

“You don’t have to,” Sasuke says. “I mean, I didn’t mind you being here before. If all you really plan on doing is _sleeping_ , especially in your kitsune form, then—”

“Sasuke,” she says, cutting him off with the ease and self-assurance of the god she is. “Just… just take a night. Think about whatever you need to think about. Maybe we can come back to it after your goals are fulfilled.”

 _“Why?”_ he asks, too frustrated to even pretend at manners. “Why did you even come? You—of everyone here, you have no investment in my hunt for Shimura, not enough investment in me as a person to _care_ about Itachi—”

“I’m a god, little devil,” she says. “Aren’t we known for our whims?”

“Whims for pretty little things?” he asks, because she’s said it enough by now that he thinks he can make a joke out of it.

“Mm. Something like that.”

She doesn’t let him answer, just twists over herself to become the little fox that’s been accompanying them these past days and darts out the flap of his tent.

He finds the night cold, without the furry companion he’s gotten used to.

\--

“Do you like her?”

“What.”

“As a person,” Naruto says. “Do you like her? My cousin?”

“She’s as tolerable as anyone else in the group?” Sasuke tries. “I don’t know what you’re expecting me to say. I usually can’t classify people in my life beyond ‘annoying’ and ‘not annoying.’”

“Yeah, Sakura-chan said as much. She also said she had to bully you into therapy?”

“Sakura’s a snitch.”

“A truthful one, though.”

Sasuke glares at Naruto, and then past him at Sakura.

Sakura notices, rolls her eyes, and goes back to whatever conversation she’s having with Konan.

Rude.

“So do you like Karin or not?”

“She falls into the ‘not annoying’ category,” Sasuke says. “I’m still working on anything more definite than that.”

“Is there anyone here that falls into ‘actually like’ instead of ‘not annoying?’” Naruto prods.

“Juugo,” Sasuke says immediately. “Probably Sakura and Kakashi, I’ve known them too long to not have a fraction of affection. Suigetsu is… _very_ annoying, but I do like him as a person.”

“And me?”

“You,” Sasuke says, leveling a LookTM at him, “are going to end up in that same category.”

“Liking me despite me being annoying as hell?”

“Yes.”

“I think my mom would be proud.”

Going by Sasuke’s shaky memories of his own mother’s stories on the topic of Uzumaki Kushina, that’s definitely true.

“Karin’s right, though, now that I think about it,” Naruto muses. “You _are_ really pretty. I’m surprised you haven’t been picked up by a rival pantheon before.”

“Not for lack of trying,” Sasuke mutters.

“…what.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, wait, tell me!”

\--

The battle with Shimura is almost underwhelming, when it finally happens a few weeks into their nonsense of a trip. _Godkiller_ he may be, but they’ve several gods and yet more partially-ascended in their group. Battling him is simple, if tiresome.

Obito shows up, right at the end when they’re all tired and a little broken, and things immediately get ten times harder.

When Madara follows him, not-quite-herded by the Senju brothers and the demoness Touka, Sasuke wants to scream.

He doesn’t, of course, but he wants to.

(Kakashi does, at one point, but Kakashi appears to have been drawn into some kind of hellish illusion battle with Obito that involves drawing ghosts from the past to torture each other or something.)

(Sasuke doesn’t get involved.)

(If he has to choose between Obito and Madara as an opponent, he is absolutely going for the one that isn’t as reliant on total mindfucks using a person’s worst traumas.)

(Kakashi’s got Konan and Touka and Sakura and Naruto. He’ll be fine.)

(Probably.)

“You’re of his blood?” Senju Tobirama asks, during a short lull in the fighting where Madara appears to be primarily absorbed in yelling at Hashirama about something.

“My mother came from Izuna’s line,” Sasuke tells him. “Many generations back, but…”

“I’ll make it work,” Tobirama promises, which is, quite frankly, a little terrifying.

Sasuke _does not want_ to be near one of the historical figures that influenced Orochimaru-sensei. He especially does not want to be near said historical figure while any kind of experimental technique is happening.

He catches Suigetsu’s eye. The answering grimace at least lets him know that he’s not alone in this reaction.

Anyway.

It works.

Not quickly, or easily, or with much opportunity for Sasuke to enjoy himself, but it works.

Even after it’s over, Sasuke’s not entirely sure what ‘it’ is. He knows that Obito ended up sobbing all over Kakashi, which is about nine hundred times more emotion than Sasuke’s willing to put up with. He also knows that Uchiha Madara apparently turned into some moon demon goddess princess rabbit… thing.

And then back.

And is now making out with Senju Tobirama.

Sasuke ignores this with the practiced ease of someone who once spent several months working with Sakura and Ino out of convenience, and hearing them make out in the tent three feet away every other night. It’s actually easier, now, because Senju Hashirama is _very, very loudly_ discussing something with Naruto. It involves nature energy, something Sasuke has never had the patience for, and also toads, which brings Konan into the conversation.

Apparently, there’s a common connecti—

“Wait, are you talking about _Jiraiya?”_ Sasuke demands.

Naruto blinks at him. “You know Ero-Sennin?”

“He crashed into Orochimaru-sensei’s base once,” Sasuke says. “Threw him some books while yelling ‘Happy Birthday’ and a bunch of insults.”

“Huh.”

“It wasn’t sensei’s birthday.”

“…sounds about right,” Naruto admits.

“Did he leave right after?” Konan asks.

“No, he dragged Orochimaru to a Tanabata festival,” Sasuke tells her. “I don’t… I tried _very_ hard to not find out what happened afterwards. I did not find out and I wish to never do so.”

“That’s a lovers’ festival,” Konan muses. “So…”

“Please don’t,” Sasuke says. He hears an odd choking noise, and belatedly realizes it’s gekkering. He looks down and sees Karin laughing at him. She drops to the ground and covers her snout with her forepaws when he looks at her, but he can still see the smirk.

He doesn’t comment, just looks back up to find Naruto staring at him in horror.

“Ero-Sennin slept with the creepy snake guy?” Naruto squeaks.

“I’m not sure Orochimaru considers himself a guy,” Sasuke notes, doing his best to not address the rest of the question. “There’s a whole thing about gender going on, I don’t know.”

Hashirama looks like he’s about to say something.

Something _boisterous._

Sasuke turns around and walks away, because no. He’s not dealing with that shit. He is too tired to _ever_ deal with that shit.

He realizes he’s heading for the sobbing, snotty, blubbering mess that is Obito and Kakashi.

He pauses, because they’re kind of pathetic and disgusting and embarrassing to look at, and he also has _no_ idea what’s going on with them.

He doesn’t want to get withing twenty feet of their emotions, though.

“Fuck it,” he decides. “I’m going to bed.”

“Can I come?” Suigetsu—which, when did he get there?—asks with a leer.

Sasuke considers it for a moment, and then shrugs.

“Sure.”

\--

Half the group disperses, after that. Konan and the Senju are heading back to the island, Madara in tow. Obito and Kakashi have disappeared, which Sasuke decides isn’t worth thinking about. It’s just the… well, not kids, really, but the not-yet-middle-aged that are left, afterwards.

“You said you still need to find your brother,” Sakura points out. “And that he’s dying.”

“That’s what I was told,” Sasuke says.

“Okay, so, like, you _need_ me,” she presses. “Because, I’m sorry, Naruto’s ridiculous ability to regrow other people’s body parts isn’t going to do jackshit for a chronic illness.”

“Hey!” Naruto protests, seemingly on reflex. “Wait, no, you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Sakura reminds him. “Get your head on straight.”

“But I’m not—”

“If you turn this into an ‘I’m not straight’ joke, I’m locking you in a room with the Green Beasts again,” Sakura says.

The Sasuke of fifteen years ago would never have believed Sakura capable of talking down a god. The Sasuke of fifteen years ago had not met any gods and, in truth, was kind of a dumbass who didn’t really expect Sakura to be capable of… anything.

“Should we let Sai know?” Sasuke asks idly, before whatever conversation Sakura and Naruto are having can spiral out of control.

Sakura freezes.

“Shit.”

\--

“Of course I knew,” Sai says. He picks his way across the inky threads, form shifting like smoke as he comes closer. His face is a mask, as always, and his body… perhaps a spider, these days. It’s not very distinct. “I can _leave_ now.”

He hasn’t been able to, for going on eight years.

“You never said that was Shimura,” Sakura says, voice low.

Sai tilts his head, and the ink coalesces, contracts, comes down until he stands before them as something _almost_ human. He tilts his head, and tries to make an expression. It doesn’t work, but it’s closer than before he was… turned into whatever he is, now.

“Are you going to stay in the shrine?” Sakura asks. She reaches out a hand to brush against Sai’s cheek, and the not-exactly-porcelain leans against it. “I know you like it, but…”

“I want to travel,” Sai says. He looks down at his hand, which drips and drops ink. It’s endless. “But I may need to figure out a little more about how to be what I am beyond the building’s borders.”

Sasuke has no idea what to say to that. Nobody really does, except—

“I can help with that.”

Sasuke blinks and turns to Suigetsu. “What?”

Suigetsu makes a face. “What? I’m not _always_ a dick.”

“What do you mean?” Sai asks, toneless.

Suigetsu shrugs and loses form, collapsing into water. A second later, he reforms, exactly as he was a second earlier. “I’m a river spirit, but it took me a bit to figure out the whole ‘human shape’ thing.”

Sai’s head tilts the other direction. “It’s not quite the same thing.”

“Still closer than anything else you’re gonna get, though.”

Sai blinks, and the clicking noise carries. Still creepy. Sasuke doesn’t show it, though.

“Okay,” Sai says. “If you want.”

Suigetsu grins, sharp and a shade too bright. “Great! You any good in a fight?”

“I am.”

“Then let’s spar.”

They end up leaving Suigetsu behind.

\--

“I could help Juugo, you know.”

Sasuke blinks and looks up. He hadn’t even heard her come in. She’s in her fox form, which maybe explains it.

“You think you can stop the rages?” Sasuke asks. “Without taking away his ability to defend himself?”

She turns mostly human, and he can see her grimace. “Kind of. The theory I’m running on would make it a little more difficult to access such transformations overall, in exchange for giving him control of it otherwise. Most likely, there would still be increased aggression when transformed, though I’m not entirely certain to what degree.”

“Okay,” Sasuke says. He hesitates, but… “Did you talk to him about it yet?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Her face twists again. “Honestly? I’m worried he’d reject it out of wanting to be a better weapon for you. I wanted to let you know before I talk to him so, if he comes to you about it, you already know what’s going on.”

“I see,” Sasuke says. “I appreciate it.”

She nods.

The moment is awkward, and then Sasuke lifts the edge of his thin comforter. “I’m not interested in anything carnal, but…”

She blinks, eyebrows raising. “Straightforward, aren’t you?”

“I have enough trouble understanding other people’s romantic overtures. I’d rather not make it worse by muddling the outgoing message, too.”

“Hmph.” Karin’s ears flick back, and then forward again. “I’m told I get clingy, you know.”

Sasuke shrugs. “If you want to avoid it getting weird, you can shift back, but I don’t really care that much.”

“Huh,” she says, and then tips forwards into the scant space between Sasuke and the edge of the sleeping space. She doesn’t sprawl, but wriggles oddly to get under the blanket, her now-three tails whipping about perhaps a bit more than necessary.

She presses her nose into Sasuke’s neck and makes an odd noise that… huh.

“I didn’t know foxes purred.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know, pretty thing.”

\--

Karin _is_ a clingy sleeper, but Sasuke’s dealt with worse. And weirder. Mostly worse. Suigetsu sometimes lost form in the middle of the night and soaked the entire damn bed, when they were younger. It didn’t matter that Suigetsu could pull all the water _back_ to dry them out immediately after; it woke Sasuke up anyway.

At any rate, waking up to find an attractive woman sprawled across his chest and smirking at him, three tails a-twitching behind her, is far from a terrible way to wake up.

She lets her head fall to the side, eyes half-shut, and makes the foxy purring noise again.

Sasuke lets a breath out, closing his eyes and letting his head drop back into the pillow. Unthinking, he lifts his hand and digs it into her hair, right behind the ears. He wonders, for a moment, if this is demeaning and reason to be smote, but then the purring increases, and Karin nuzzles against his chest, so it must be alright.

His mind jumps to the thought of being a god consort, like Senju Hashirama and Namikaze Minato. It’s not an entirely terrible idea, but it seems like a very permanent decision to make for a woman he’s only known a few weeks.

He’ll think on it.

\--

Here’s how finding Itachi goes:

They reach him earlier than planned, because Karin is scary good at finding people, and Itachi has apparently been heading their way since Obito teleported in with Kakashi, grabbed the shark demon of a guard, and fucked off.

Sasuke does not ask for more details, just runs forward, hugs his brother, and threatens to sit on him for the rest of their lives if he tries to pull this shit again.

“You could have _told_ me,” Sasuke hisses.

“I couldn’t,” Itachi says, and coughs. There’s blood on Sasuke’s shoulder, and Sakura’s probably about to screech in medical offense. “If I’d breathed a word of my innocence while Danzō lived, your life would have been forfeit.”

Sasuke wants to resurrect the bastard just to torture him for a bit.

“Sit _down!”_ Sakura finally snaps. “Oh my gods, I cannot _believe—_ don’t give me that look, Uchiha! Lie down! Medic’s orders!”

“I’m fine.”

“You most certainly are _not,”_ Sakura snarls. “Sit! Down!”

“She’s a student of the Warlady Healer,” Sasuke tells him.

Itachi sits.

Sasuke does not let go of Itachi’s hand until Sakura tells him he has to. Itachi puts on a façade of being unaffected, maybe even fondly exasperated with Sasuke being like this at nearly thirty, but Sasuke sees through it.

“What the _fuck_ did you do to your lungs?”

“It’s fine.”

“You should have died _ten years ago, you motherfu—”_

Sasuke isn’t in any particular hurry to save Itachi from Sakura, though. If she’s _this_ mad about Itachi’s medical state, then there must be a reason.

Juugo sits down a ways away, Karin perched on his knee in fox form. He’s petting her, and Sasuke wanders over to sit down and lean into Juugo’s side.

“Did she talk to you?”

“Aa.”

“I think it’s a good idea.”

“I think… I think I would like to try it.”

“We’ll have to follow to the island.”

“A small price to pay, I think.”

“Hn.”

Karin looks back at Sasuke over her shoulder, and smirks.

He finds he doesn’t mind.

\--

Between Naruto and Sakura, Itachi is bullied into following the lot of them to Shikkotsu forest. Sasuke doesn’t speak a word against this plan. He just got Itachi back. He’s not going to let Itachi _die._

Especially since, apparently, Obito and Madara both muddled their way into immortality despite being objectively shitty people. Itachi deserves better. Obito deserves therapy. Madara deserves… well, honestly, Sasuke wants to say that Madara deserves a shallow grave, but he’s not dumb enough to say that out loud. What if Senju Tobirama has a spy listening in? Terrible idea.

Tsunade kicks him out.

“I have to stay with Itachi.”

“No, you don’t.”

“But—”

Six golden fox tails flare behind her. They’re a softer color than Naruto’s screaming yellow. They’re probably ten times better at killing him.

“Go away, and come back when I send for you.”

Sasuke grits his teeth and leaves.

He’s not going to jeopardize Itachi’s recovery by being an ornery little shit. He’s not sixteen anymore.

“You could stay with me,” Karin offers. “Ah, for Juugo’s treatment, of course.”

Sasuke ducks his head. “Much obliged.”

\--

There are spare beds, in the laboratory. Juugo’s not the first patient or… well, subject. He’s not the first patient or _subject_ that Karin’s had stay here. Sasuke tries not to think too hard about it. If it were a problem, Mito would know and put a stop to it, and for all that Sasuke isn’t comfortable with _Tobirama,_ he knows enough of Mito to respect her judgement.

Mostly.

“And I can set up another spare room pretty easily,” Karin explains, “or just add an extra bed in here. Takes about five seconds, I’ve got tons of seals set up for it.”

“I would… think it preferable,” Sasuke says, as carefully as he can, “to share your bed?”

He ignores Juugo’s raised eyebrow.

“Oh?” Karin asks, drifting closer. Her tails wave through the air behind her, and then one snakes forward to grasp at Sasuke’s wrist. “Just share it?”

“For now,” he prevaricates. “Perhaps more… later.”

“Later, then,” she says, a smile curling across her face. “I can work with that.”

Juugo ducks through the door into his temporary room.

“I don’t suppose a kiss would be a problem,” Sasuke mutters, and barely has a moment to blink before there’s a fox goddess pressing into his space, lips on his, arms around his neck and—

Well, he’s not going to say it’s any different from kissing anyone else. It’s not fireworks on contact or any other magical metaphor.

But it’s nice, and he thinks he could grow to like Karin rather a lot.

He wraps his arm around enough to dig his fingers into her hair and pull her closer.

Yeah. He can work with this.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on a whim because I wanted SK fic and the worldbuilding was kind of an afterthought. Please do not ask me for more worldbuilding, especially for characters that didn't show up in the fic. The only thing I have to offer is tail counts:  
> Kurama - nine tails  
> Mito - eight tails  
> Nagato - seven tails  
> Tsunade - six tails  
> Kushina - five tails  
> Naruto - three tails  
> Karin - two tails to start, three by the end  
> Consorts and the like (Minato, Hashirama, the Senju, Konan) - no tails, because they weren't born as fox gods.
> 
> Anyway, now that I got THIS out of the way, I can go back to Spokes.


End file.
